Body cameras could help separate fact from fiction

You can't watch a television commercial or visit YouTube without seeing video of someone sky diving, skateboarding, skiing, surfing or scuba diving, usually as a vehicle for selling a sports drink or beer.

The advent of the GoPro camcorder, not to mention video-capable smartphones, means more and more of our lives are being captured on videotape.

Should it be 100 percent for police officers on duty?

The Obama administration thinks so; dedicating $263 million to increase the use of "body cameras" by law enforcement agencies. The funding includes $75 million over three yearas to help police buy cameras, in addition to support for better training and oversight.

The Rodney King case in 1991 was a watershed moment in the junction of technology and law enforcement.

By some accounts, it was routine for Los Angeles Police to beat drivers apprehended after a high-speed chase. The difference in the King case was the process was videotaped and televised, resulting in riots the next year after the four officers involved were acquitted.

A year later, two officers were convicted and imprisoned on federal charges while the other two were acquitted again.

The officer involved in the shooting of a Ferguson, Missouri, man was not indicted by a grand jury, but may well yet face federal charges as demonstrations continue.

No videos of the Ferguson shooting have emerged, although there is a video of the young man's strong-arm robbery of a convenience store.

The Ferguson officer's car may have been equipped with a camera, but because of the angles involved, it's doubtful it would have been much help, other than possible audio recordings.

Local law enforcement agencies are slowly adopting car cameras, but the White House plan is designed to double the use of body cameras in use around the country, to $50,000.

Two days after the Ferguson shooting, a WhiteHouse.gov petition to require all state, county and local police officers to wear cameras gathered nearly 155,000 signatures.

Privacy and procedural issues are slowing the use of video cameras by law enforcement, but another is cost -- professional body-worn cameras are $300-400, much more than commercially available products.

Yes, the video cameras must generate video of a high-enough quality to stand up as evidence in court, but there's no reason the cost can't come down as production increases.

No one wants to feel Big Brother breathing down their neck while they're doing their job, and police officers, especially, must be trustworthy, whether or not they're being watched.

When cases like the Ferguson shooting come up, emotional and political considerations too often overshadow the truth.

To quote an old science fiction television program, "the truth is out there."

In this case, a video camera could help separate the fact from the fiction.